Poultry-feeder.



H. SCHULTZ.

POULTRY FEEDER.

APPLIOATION FILED Amm, 1912.

LDVLW@ l Patented Aug.26,1913.

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aumento@ H5071, aziz) H. SGHULTZ.

POULTRY FEEDER.

APPLICATION FILED Amm, 1912.

Patented Aug. 26, 1913.

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HERMAN SCHULTZ, 0F PARKERSBURG, IOWA.

POULTRY-FEEDER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application led August 3, 1912.

Patented A ufj. 26, 1913. serial No. 713,126.

"o all whom t may concern.'

lle itknown that I, HERMAN Sentir/rz, a citizen of the United States,residing at Parkersbure' in the count of Butler and ma y v State ofIowa, have invented certain new and useful Infiprovements inPoultry-Feeders, of which the :following is a specification, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to in'iprovements in poultry feeders and has forits primary ob ject to provide a simple, inexpensive and efficientdevice of this character which is actuated by the fowls thereby alsoserving as an exerciser to maintain the fowls in a healthy condition andgreatly increase their production.

Another and more specific object of the invention resides in theprovision of a hopper to contain the feed, an oscillatory trough mountedupon the hopper and a regulating plate to admit the feed in the desiredquantities from the trough into the hopper, and means connected to thehopper and depending therefrom whereby the hopper is oscillated whensaid means is moved b y the fowls to cause the feed to gravita-teoutwardly and downwardly to one end of the hopper.

Another object of the invention is to provide improved means fordirecting and scattering the feed after it is discharged from the troughover a comparatively wide area.

`With the above and other objects in view, the invention consists in thenovel features of construction and the combination and arrangement ofparts hereinafter more fully described, pointed out in the claim andshown in the accompanying drawings in which Figure l is a side elevationof a poultry feeding device embodying the present invention. F ig. 2 isa section taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a section taken onthe line 3-3 of E ig. 2. Fig. 4 isa detail perspective view of thetrough. F ig. 5 is a horizontal section taken on the line 5 5 of Fig. 8.

Referring in detail to the drawing, 5 designates a hopper which in theillustrated embodiment of the invention is shown as of rectangular formin cross section though it will be obvious that this hopper may becylindrical, hexagonal, or of any other desired shape. The lower end ofthe hopper is reduced as indicated at 6, the bottom of said reducedportion being provided withthe outlet opening` 7 for the feed. Thishopper is prefe ably coiif'-;t'iiicted of sheet metal and at theopposite edges of the opening '7. the metal is reif'ersely bent orlooped to form guide ways 8. These guide ways receive the inwardly bentedges 9 of a sliding feed regulating plate 10. The outer end of thisplate is bent or flanged upwardly as at .l1 to provide a suitable handlewhereby said plate may be conveniently moved in the guide ways S toregulate the size of the opening in the bottoni of the hopper throughwhich the feed is permitted to escape. The guide waysS are connectedcentrally between their ends by a cross bar 12.

A rod 1.3 is disposed through the opposite side walls of the lowerreduced end G of the hopper 5, and upon this rod the feed receivingtrough 111; is .mounted to oscillate, the side walls 15 of the troughbeing` vertically extended and provided with apertures which looselyreceive the rod 1 3. @ne end of this trough, which will be designatedfor convenience as the rear end thereof, is closed by the wall 1G, theupper edge of which extends above the lower edge of the rear wall of thehopper The bottom of the provided with an opening l? at its forward end,and the side walls of the hopper are connected at their forward ends bymeans of the plate 18. This plate extends downwardly and is rearwardlycurved beneath the trough as clearly shown in F ig. 1.

A pendule 19 has its upper end loosely mounted in the cross bar 12 whichconnects the guide ways 8 wherein the sliding feed regulating' plate ismounted. This pendule is in the form of a rod upon the upper end ofwhich a nut 2O is threaded. To the lower end of the pendule 19 acylindrical block 21, preferably of wood is secured, and this block isprovided with a covering or casing of rnbber indicated at 22. Thisrubber casing has a. number of openings formed therein in which grainsof corn shown at 23 are securely held. A suitable top 24 may be providedfor the hopper 5 and the ends of a bail 25 are attached to opposite sidewalls of said hopper whereby the feederl may be suspended from a hook orother element.

In order Ato prevent rain entering the trough 111, I provide a shield orguard plates 2G and Q7 respectively, fixed to the front wall of thehopper 5 and extending' outwardly and downwardly over trough lt is` theplate 26 being `rubber covered bloclr the forward end of the oscillatingtrough. The rear shield plate 27 is disposed over the upper edge of therear wall of the trough. lThese plates will effectually prevent sparrowsobtaining access to the feed in the trough and will also exclude rainand moisture therefrom which has a deteriorating effect upon the corn.

For the purpose of scattering the feed over a comparatively wide area, lprovide the conical or inverted funnel shaped member 2S which is mountedupon the pendule 19 at a point adjacent the lower end of the i curvedplate 17. This scat-tering member is held againstdownward movement bymeans of a collar 29 Xed upon the rod or pendule 19 in any preferredmanner.

In the operation of my improved feeder, the fowls are attracted by thegrains of corn secured upon the block on the lower end of the rod 1S inthe manner above stated. As the fowls strike. the rubber covering 2Q,with their bills, the pendule 19 will be moved or swung, thereby alsooscillating the trough 14; upon the rod 13. The feed regulating plate 10being properly adjusted, the feed which enters the trough will gravitateto the forward end thereof as the trough is Y oscillated and escapethrough the opening 17 in the bottom of the trough. rlhe feed .willstrike upon the concave surface of the curved plate 1S and be directedby the same gupon the conical member 28. From this member the grainmoves downwardly and outwardly and is scattered over the ground. Bymeans of my device, it will be seen that in order for the fo-wls toobtain the feed, they must exert themselves by striking the 21 on thelower end of the pendule 19. In this manner, the fowls are exercised andkept in a healthy condition. It has also been demonstrated that Copiesthe production of eggs may be greatly increased by providing meanswhereby the fowls are exercised. My improved poultry feeder also resultsin the saving of considerable feed, as the hopper is suspended out ofthe reach of the fowl so that its contents cannot be wasted. The deviceis of comparatively simple construction, may be inexpensivelymanufactured and is very dura- .ble as well as efficient in practicaluse.

While I have shown and described the preferred construction andarrangement of the various elements it will be obvious that theinvention is susceptible of considerable modification without departingfrom the essential features or sacrificing any of the advantagesthereof.

`What 1 claim is A poultry feeder, including a hopper haw ing adischarge opening and an oscillating trough mounted underneath saidopening and adapted to receive the grain therefrom, a pendulous rodarranged to swing said trough, a scattering device carried by andmovable with said rod, the trough being formed with a discharge opening.and a directing plate carried by the trough and defning one side of thedischarge opening of the trough and extending down to-ward thescattering device, whereby when the rod is moved, it will swing thetrough and scattering device with it as well as the directing plate and.whereby the latter will serve to direct the grain down onto the surfaceof the swinging scattering device.

ln testimony whereof l hereunto afX my signature in the presence of twowitnesses.

HERMAN SCHULTZ.

Vitnesses T. R. TAMMEN, H. lV. VVILHELMS.

of this patent may be obtained for ive cents each, by addressing theCommissioner of Patents,

Washington, I). C.

